A system for interconnecting a plurality of computing nodes includes a plurality of optical circuit switches and a plurality of electrical circuit switches. A first network stage comprises a first plurality of circuit switches selected from among the plurality of optical circuit switches and the plurality of electrical circuit switches. Each computing node among the plurality of computing nodes is optically coupled to at least one of the first plurality of circuit switches. A second network stage comprises a second plurality of circuit switches selected from among the plurality of optical circuit switches and the plurality of electrical circuit switches. Each circuit switch among the first plurality of circuit switches is optically coupled to each circuit switch among the second plurality of optical circuit switches.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein each optical circuit switch among the plurality of optical circuit switches is configured to switch an input optical signal from an input port to an output port based on an optical characteristic of the input optical signal.
7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of optical transceivers, wherein each circuit switch among the first plurality of circuit switches is coupled to at least one optical transceiver.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein optical communications between the plurality of computing nodes and the first plurality of circuit switches and between the first plurality of circuit switches and the second plurality of circuit switches occur via free-space optical communications.
10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a scheduler that configures the first plurality of circuit switches and the second plurality of circuit switches to enable communication paths among the plurality of computing nodes.
18. The system of claim 16, wherein at least some of the plurality of wavelength converters are configured to perform wavelength conversion without performing an optical-electrical-optical conversion.
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February 10, 2021
December 27, 2022
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